The present application is based on and claims the benefit of Korean patent application Serial Nos. 2001-38185, filed Jun. 29, 2001, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor valve assembly, and more particularly to a valve assembly capable of reducing abnormal noise when refrigerant is discharged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a compressor is widely used for compressing refrigerant in a freezing apparatus such as a refrigerator.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional reciprocal compressor comprises a driving unit 20 including a stator 21 and a rotator 22 in a body case 10, and a compressing unit 30 for discharging refrigerant after drawing the refrigerant in accordance with rotation of a crank shaft 23 inserted by compressing at center of the rotator 22.
The compressing unit 30 includes a cylinder 31, and a piston 32 for compressing refrigerant by reciprocating inside of the cylinder 31. A cylinder head 33 for sealing the cylinder 31 is disposed at a front of the cylinder 31. On the other hand, a valve assembly 40, for supplying the refrigerant in the cylinder 31 or discharging the refrigerant from the cylinder 31, is inserted between the cylinder head 33 and the cylinder 31.
As shown in FIG. 2, the valve assembly 40 comprises a valve plate 42 in which a refrigerant discharging hole 41 is formed, a discharging valve 43, formed between the valve plate 42 and the cylinder head 33, for opening and closing the refrigerant discharging hole 41, and a keeper 44, formed at an upper part of the discharging valve 43, for controlling opening range.
The discharging valve 43 comprises a settled end 43a, which is settled at the valve plate 42, and a free end 43b for vibrating up and down by a compressing force of the piston 32, and the free end 43b is formed at an upper part of the refrigerant discharging hole 41.
The keeper 44 includes a settled end 44a connected with the settled end 43a of the discharging valve 43, and an open end 44b formed at a corresponding place of the free end 43b of the discharging valve 43. The keeper 44 to be formed that an opened end 44b is bent upwardly from a settled end 44a for the discharging valve 43 to have a lift L of a predetermined height.
According to a conventional valve assembly 40 with the above construction, the keeper 44 should be exactly bent for the discharging valve 43 to have appropriate lift L. However, it is very difficult to bend exactly as it is wanted because of a feature of the bending processing. If the keeper 44 is processed that the lift L is greater than an appropriate volume, noise is generated since the discharging valve 43 is opened too much and the discharging valve 43 collides with the keeper 44 when the refrigerant is discharged.
In addition, according to the conventional valve assembly 40, if a lower side of the settled end 44a of the keeper 44 is not flat, the discharging valve 43 and the keeper 44 can not be adhered to each other at a connecting place. If the discharging valve 43 and the keeper 44 are not adhered at the connecting place, the lift L of the discharging valve 43 cannot be maintained evenly, and thus the discharging valve 43 cannot operate with stability. Therefore, if the discharging valve 43 is collided with the keeper 44, or the free end 43b of the discharging valve 43 is vibrated due to remained vibration, when the refrigerant is discharged, abnormal noise is generated.
The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the related art. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a compressor valve assembly capable of reducing abnormal noise generated while refrigerant is being discharged because lift of a discharging valve is maintained evenly and the discharging valve is firmly settled at the valve plate.
The above object of the present invention is accomplished by providing a valve assembly including a valve plate having a refrigerant discharging hole, a discharging valve having one end that is settled at the valve plate for opening and closing the refrigerant discharging hole, a keeper, placed at an upper part of the discharging valve, having one end that is connected with the valve plate with the discharging valve for limiting lift of the discharging valve, and a bead protruded for a predetermined width and height at a lower side of the keeper.
Here, the bead is spaced for a predetermined length from a center of a connection member connecting the each settled end of the discharging valve and the keeper with the valve plate in direction of the refrigerant discharging hole.
When the height of the bead is 0.1 to 0.5 mm, the lift of the discharging valve is 0.36 to 0.66 mm, and preferably, when the height of the bead is 0.23 mm, the lift of the discharging valve is 0.56 mm. Moreover, the width of the bead is 0.5 to 2.0 mm, and preferably, the width of the bead is 1.5 mm.
According to the present invention, since the bead presses an upper side of the discharging valve, the lift of the discharging valve is maintained evenly, and the settled end of the discharging valve is firmly settled at the valve plate. Therefore, abnormal noise generated while refrigerant is being discharged can be reduced due to stable operation of the discharging valve.